Should you be friends
with your friends' friends?
I decided to blog about this as it’s something we encounter
on a regular basis and a situation we are guaranteed to find ourselves in at
some point or another.
I have met the most wonderful people through my friends –
either by introduction or by chance. I have also consciously introduced friends
to other friends where I felt they shared common interests (besides myself).
A friend once told me "I don’t do friends of friends". I can
understand this thought. I can also imagine the downside of this - the friends
you introduced with every good intention forget about you and solidify their friendship
without you. This happens, yes. Is anyone to blame? If one thinks about this
rationally, no. The heart wants what it wants. Just as connection
between two people cannot be forced, it cannot be broken if it wasn’t weak to
begin with.
The way I see it, when you share a common circle of friends,
it brings you closer. It offers different opportunities to socialise. It brings
a different dynamic to your existing equation. And it can come in handy. It isn't uncommon to find yourself caught between two friends who are having differences
or drifting apart. This is where a mutual friends situation helps. March in and try to make them talk. No
one knows both of them better than you after all.
Similarly, I have always felt (either as a credit to my cultural
background or my nature) that a friendship is not complete without some family
involvement. I have to know my closest friends’ family members. Their parents
and siblings have to know me – and like me;)
A friend’s parent once told me "when you are with *said friend*
I know she has a bullet proof vest on her". It’s the most beautiful thing anyone else’s
parent has said to me. That and "you’re like my daughter as well".
Of course if our parents knew each other even better, but as
this isn't a Bollywood drama I’ll let this one slide.
I feel privileged to have such wonderful friends that others
who have heard of them or met them by chance ask me to invite them over or want
me to tell them to host a party where they can invite themselves.
